


Of Water and Weapons

by athersgeo



Category: The Daevabad Trilogy - S. A. Chakraborty
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28089063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo
Summary: Zaynab prepares for her departure from Daevabad.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Of Water and Weapons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [victoria_p (musesfool)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/gifts).



As the door to the infirmary swung open, Zaynab stiffened. She had thought no-one was using the room anymore and it was therefore a safe place to hide and to think, but, of course, she'd reckoned without Nahri and her desire not to waste materials. Hunkered down in the shadow of a dangling cupboard door, she thought for a moment she'd avoided detection, but then Nahri did a slow pivot around the room, clearly seeking the room's other occupant. Zaynab sighed, giving in to the inevitable and giving herself away.

"Zaynab?"

Zaynab scrambled awkwardly to her feet, taking care not to use her left hand and instead cradling it against her chest. "Sorry. I--"

"Wait." Nahri frowned. "Hold out your hand."

Zaynab's hand flashed out and then tucked behind her back in a sheepish gesture. "It's fine. It's nothing."

"It is not nothing." Nahri put her hands on her hips and glared. "Hand."

Reluctantly, Zaynab held the offending appendage out again as Nahri stepped forwards. For a few moments, Nahri studied it, taking note of the burns and bruising, and then set about healing both the visible and the non-visible injuries.

"Should I ask?"

"Zulfiqars are harder to use than I realised."

"Ah." Nahri nodded. "I see." She stepped back. "Better?" Silently Zaynab nodded. "So should I ask why you're hiding?"

"Well, Ali was threatening to explain taxation regimes and economics again."

Nahri smirked at that. "He is fascinated by those subjects - I do wonder if he's shared them with Sobek." Zaynab couldn’t help but flinch at the name of the ancient one. "I'm assuming not, since we haven't been overrun by a plague of djinn-eating crocodiles. That said, Ali's easily enough dealt with when he's on one of those subjects. Just smile, nod and back away while avoiding eye contact."

Zaynab barked a startled laugh. "Really?"

"Works a treat." Nahri's smirk turned to a smile. "Though I'm sure you have your own methods. He is your baby brother, after all." She let her smile turn coaxing. "So you're not in here hiding from Ali and I don't believe it's just because your training went badly this morning. Aqisa's a hard task mistress, but a fair one."

Zaynab's mouth hinged open for a moment, then snapped shut and she glared mutinously. The very last thing she wished to do was admit weakness to Nahri.

Nahri, for her part, shook her head. "And that won't work on me, either. Something to do with Sobek, I think."

Zaynab scowled. Of course Nahri had noticed that. "I miss the naive newcomer."

"Yes; she was so much fun to get drunk," Nahri shot back. "Don't think I've forgotten that. Well, if you're going to hide in here, you might as well be of use."

At the premptory order, Zaynab bristled. "You don't get to order me about."

"And you don't hide in the infirmary."

"I am not hiding!"

"Then what would you call it?"

Zaynab once more opened her mouth, then closed it without saying a word. She supposed Nahri had a point there. 

"That," said Nahri, "is what I thought. So, two choices. Or...no. Three choices, I suppose."

Zaynab lifted her eyebrows. "Three?"

"I can get Ali in here to talk to you."

Zaynab winced. "There's no need to bring out the heavy weaponry."

"Then it's simple. You can either help me catalogue supplies, or..."

"Or I can tell you why I'm hiding," Zaynab completed. She sighed. "You catalogue, I'll talk."

Nahri nodded once and set to work on the first of the cupboards. For a few moments, Zaynab watched her work and said nothing, then:

"Ali is not the only one who can control water."

Nahri's hands, working automatically to pick over the tumbled jars and bottles, faltered for a moment.

With that first admission given, Zaynab's next words came more easily: "I am afraid," she admitted softly. "I am a djinn. I do not want to lose that part of myself, like Ali's had to, and I certainly do not want to enrage Tiamat. But...the water magic is a thing that is also a part of me."

Nahri nodded slowly. "I think that, perhaps, you need to talk to Ali. Or maybe even Sobek."

"I can't do that!" The thought of facing the Lord of the Nile was terrifying to Zaynab at a bone-deep level.

"Why not?"

"I'm not--he's not--I can't--"

Nahri looked amused. "You led an insurrection against Manizheh, but sure. You can't speak to the Lord of the Nile."

Zaynab's mouth closed with another snap. Then she opened it again and asked, "Have you met Sobek?"

"Twice," Nahri answered. "And lived, both times."

At that, Zaynab's eyebrows lifted. "Twice?"

Nahri hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "My mother was...I suppose she was almost a friend of Sobek's. He's the reason I'm here at all, and from what I know, from what Ali's said, Sobek's words are at odds with what he does. Particularly when it comes to those he favours."

"But I am not one of those," said Zaynab softly.

"Aren't you?" Nahri offered just the faintest of smiles. "You should at least talk with your brother."

"And why should she do that?" 

Zaynab let out a startled 'eep'. She'd been so focussed on the conversation with Nahri she'd missed Ali's arrival, turning it into an unwitting ambush. Though from the amusement on Nahri's face, she also had the suspicion that the other woman may have aided Ali's silent entry.

"You knew he was there."

"Of course I did." Nahri shut the door of the cupboard she'd been working through. "I will leave you two to talk." She started to leave the infirmary, pausing in the doorway to add, "Don't make me lock you in here."

Ali waited until Nahri was out of earshot. "She would, you know."

"I know. She's already reminded me she still owes me for the garden party when she first arrived here."

Ali coughed in an effort to cover his laughter. It wasn't a successful effort and Zaynab scowled in his direction and folded her arms across her chest, grateful at least that Nahri had seen fit to heal her hand and wrist before she'd started the interrogation.

"So, why does Nahri think we need to talk?" Ali asked.

"I...may have said something."

"That's a given." Ali inclined his head, studying her for a few moments. "Is it your training with Aqisa? You look a little stiff."

Zaynab shook her head. "It's not that."

"Then...?"

Knowing that if she didn't speak of this, Nahri would almost certainly find out, Zaynab sighed and repeated to Ali what she'd said to Nahri. She half expected her brother to be amused by this, particularly given her own vehemence only a few weeks earlier that this was a side of her heritage she wanted nothing to do with. But Ali wasn't amused. Instead, he nodded.

"You're right to be afraid," he admitted. "Tiamat is...still not happy with Sobek, or with me." He paused for a few moments and Zaynab noted the mist around his ankles thickened as he thought. "But," he continued softly, "being the ambassador between the Marids and the Daeva does give me a certain latitude." His mouth curled up in a smile that he had to have learned from Nahri. "You are about to start travelling the world. Both fire and water are important." The smile slid from crooked to sheepish. "Just ask Aqisa about that."

At that, Zaynab snorted and shook her head. "I have long since heard the story of your first meeting."

Ali spread his hands wide. "I can teach that skill to you, but we'll need to make it an exchange."

Zaynab was on her guard now. "An exchange?"

Ali frowned for a moment, then shook his head. "No, not that sort of exchange. Just a promise: if I teach you how to find water in the dry places, will you send back tales of your adventures? I think such stories as you find should please Sobek and Tiamat."

Zaynab released a breath. "That I can do, Zaydi." And she wrapped her arms around her little brother and hugged him. "I'd do that anyway, you know," she muttered.

"I know."

She released him and stepped back. "So, how do we start?"

~*~

The next few weeks passed by in a blur so far as Zaynab was concerned. Her mornings were spent with Aqisa, less learning how to use the Zulfiqar and more simply learning how to wield a sword. Any sword. While she had the skill to draw the Zulfiqar's fire out, she lacked the strength and stamina to make use of it and was far more of a danger to herself than to any potential opponent. So Aqisa took her through the very beginnings of a warrior's training, with dummy weapons. It was hard and brutal and Zaynab saw far more of Nahri than she'd expected, but she began to feel as if she was making progress on the morning that Aqisa replaced the replicas with real, metal blades.

Her afternoons were spent with Ali. Some of the time was spent learning the family history that had been shrouded and hidden away. The rest was learning assorted minor tricks of Marid magic. Some of them proved to be both simple and familiar: sensing water, particularly, turned out to be something that she'd done all her life without consciously realising it, though it was good to formally practice it and properly harness the talent. She was sure the residents of Bir Nabat would appreciate it when she and Aqisa reached there and she suspected they'd be far from the only ones once the real adventuring began.

Other tricks proved to be much harder and one trick Ali showed her, how to direct flowing water, seemed to be almost utterly beyond her. Every time she tried it felt a little like she was splitting herself in two, with the two halves at war with each other, almost as if the djinn side of her heritage cancelled out the marid parts. After several different attempts, she finally admitted defeat.

"I think you got more from our Marid roots than I did," she said, flopping down, dejected, beneath one of the orange trees in the palace garden. 

"Perhaps." Ali offered a smile as he sat down next to her. "Or it might be like learning to sword fight - first you need to learn the basics. And, I hear you're doing well with that."

Zaynab found herself blushing. "Aqisa is a good teacher."

"And, perhaps, a little more than that?"

Zaynab hesitated for a few moments and then said softly, "Maybe."

"I am happy for you, if you've found happiness with her."

She looked across at Ali. "Really?"

That earned a slightly sheepish slightly shy smile. "I have learned quite a bit in the last five years."

Zaynab considered that statement for a moment and nodded. She supposed that, really, they all had, one way or another. Quietly, she said, "I'll be leaving in the morning. Aqisa's satisfied I won't lop my own limbs off now and Lubayd's ashes should be taken home."

Ali nodded, though his smile dimmed. "You will have some grand adventures. I look forward to hearing of them."

Zaynab offered her brother a sympathetic smile. "No you don't; you wish you were coming too."

"We both know I can't. So hearing your stories will be the next best thing." 

"Nahri's right, you really do need to learn how to lie if you're going to be a successful politician."

Ali snorted. He pushed himself to his feet and then offered his sister a hand up. "Maybe I should be a new kind of politician. One who doesn't lie." 

Zaynab accepted the aide and shook her head. "That will never catch on...then again," she added, "if there's anyone who could make it work it would probably be you." She hugged her brother. "Thank you."

Ali returned the hug. "If you ever need help, just find a stream and call."

"As long as you do the same."

~*~

Early the next morning, Zaynab found herself sitting shoulder to shoulder with Aqisa in the back of a merchant's caravan as they began their journey south. Neither said anything as the caravan trundled out through the great city gate, but as they cleared the arch, Zaynab found herself with the urge to look up. She wasn't entirely surprised to see both Nahri and Ali standing on the wall-top, watching.

"They will be okay, you know," said Aqisa.

"I know." Zaynab smiled as the gate closed. "Part of me would like to stay and see what happens next with them."

"The people Nahri doesn't con into submission will be baffled into it by your brother," said Aqisa dryly. 

At that, Zaynab laughed. Her friend almost certainly had it right. She allowed herself one final glance at her former home and then turned her attention to the future. First Bir Nabat and then...well that would be a grand adventure.

The Beginning


End file.
